For non-emergency cases, the study shows “there’s no need to rush” into invasive tests and procedures, said New York University’s Dr. Judith Hochman. About 17 million Americans have clogged arteries that crimp the heart’s blood supply, which can cause periodic chest pain. Doctors then tracked how many in each group suffered a heart attack, heart-related death, cardiac arrest or hospitalization for worsening chest pain or heart failure. At four years, the trend reversed — 13% of the procedures group and 15% of the medicines group had suffered a problem. The bottom line: There’s no harm in trying medicines first, especially for people with no or little chest pain, doctors said.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 16, 2019 18:56 UTC